The Nile Basin football tournament kicked off last night with the participation of seven African countries, Inas Mazhar reports The countries taking part in the friendly 5 to 17 January tournament: Egypt, Sudan, Congo DR, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. The seven countries were divided into two groups of four and three nations each who will play a round- robin format. Group A comprises Egypt, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania whereas Group B includes Kenya, Sudan and Congo DR. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi- finals; the winners will play for the trophy. The losers will play-off for the third and fourth places. The third placed teams in both groups will play-off for fifth and sixth place. The top three winners will be awarded medals and the rest will receive certificates of participation. The tournament will be held in Police Stadium, at the Arab Contractors and the Military Stadium. Cairo Stadium will host only one match, the final. Though the tournament is held over 12 days, there will be only five playing days. Three matches will be held every day at the three stadiums -- at 2.45, 4.45 and 7pm. Egypt will play all their preliminary matches at the Arab Contractors Stadium at 7pm local time. The semi-finals will take place at the Contractors grounds. Egypt were scheduled to meet Tanzania on 5 January, Uganda on the 8th and Burundi on the 11th. Tickets are LE50 for the VIP tribune, LE10 for first class, LE5 for the upper first class, LE3 for second class, and LE2 for third class. There are LE1 tickets for the mezzanine. The tournament's schedule was drawn up a week ago but was modified a couple of days later after Sudan complained of being placed with Burundi in the same group as they both clash in the same group of the African national teams championship. "This is a friendly tournament after all and we had to satisfy and respect all requests of the teams," Amer Hussein, head of the competitions committee of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and the tournament, said. "The two teams wanted to avoid each other and we had to change the schedule," Hussein added. Egypt is using the tournament as a warm up for the crucial match against South Africa in March in Cape Town as part of the qualifiers for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup. So far, Egypt has garnered just one point from two games with four games left. South Africa lead the group with four points. EFA chairman Samir Zaher held a press conference on Tuesday welcoming the participating teams and spoke about the tournament and its impact on the preparations of the Pharaohs in their quest to defend their African cup title which they have won three times in a row. A surprise selection by head coach Hassan Shehata was the inclusion of Mahmoud Abdel-Razek of Zamalek, known as Shikabala, who had last week announced his retirement from international football following last week's Ahli-Zamalek derby in which the star playmaker was at the receiving end of racial taunts. Shikabala did not show up at the team camp in a hotel in Heliopolis but joined the team a day later. The competitions committee met on Monday following the Ahli-Zamalek match and took the following decisions: Ahli were fined LE30,000 -- LE15,000 because of the club's fans using swear words, and LE15,000 for using laser beams. Ahli were also fined LE5,000 because the team captain did not show up at the post-match press conference nor was there a substitute. Zamalek were fined LE15,000 for fan swearing. Shikabala was suspended for a match and fined LE5,000 for swearing at the fans and making obscene gestures. Zamalek team manager Ibrahim Hassan was suspended for a match and fined LE10,000 for swearing at the fans. According to Hussein, the two teams as well as all the other teams were warned that if in future, the spectators of a team used foul language, the referee will stop the match which will later be held without any fans. Egypt squad: Goalkeepers: Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed (Zamalek), Mohamed Sobhi (Ismaili), Amir Abdel-Hamid (Masri) Defenders: Wa'el Gomaa, Ahmed Fathi (Ahli), Mahmoud Fathallah, Mohamed Abdel-Shafi (Zamalek), Abdullah Shahat, Ahmed Samir Farag (Ismaili), Mohamed Naguib (Police Union), Sherif Hazem (Petrojet) Midfielders: Hossam Ghali, Mohamed Abou-Treika (Ahli), Ibrahim Salah, Shikabala (Zamalek) Hosni Abd-Rabou, Amr El-Sulaya, Abdullah Said (Ismaili), Ahmed Eid (Haras Al-Hodoud), Walid Suleiman (ENPPI), Ayman Hefni (MCDR) Strikers: Mohamed Nagi 'Gedo' (Ahli), Ahmed Belal (Smouha), Ahmed Ali (Ismaili), El-Sayed Hamdi (Petrojet)
